Grant Hill Group Said to Bid $1.2 Billion for Clippers

Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling, wife of managing partner Donald Sterling, who was banned by the NBA for making racist statements, has been presiding over the sale. Photographer: John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

May 29 (Bloomberg) -- A group including Ares Management
Chairman Tony Ressler, Oaktree Capital’s Bruce Karsh and former
All-Star player Grant Hill bid $1.2 billion for the Los Angeles
Clippers, a person with direct knowledge of the process said.

The person asked not to be identified because the bidding
is private. Attorneys for Clippers co-owners Donald and Shelly
Sterling didn’t return calls yesterday to their offices.

Another person with direct knowledge said five bids were
submitted yesterday.

Former Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve
Ballmer said in an e-mail he made a binding bid for the National
Basketball Association team without disclosing the amount.
Forbes, citing a person familiar with Ballmer’s interest in the
team, said he offered $1.8 billion.

Ballmer would live in Los Angeles part time if his bid is
successful and not try to move the Clippers to Seattle, the
person familiar with the bids said.

Ballmer was part of a group that tried to buy the NBA’s
Sacramento Kings last year and move them to Seattle. NBA owners
rejected the move and the Kings were sold to a group that kept
them in Sacramento. Seattle hasn’t had an NBA team since the
Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City in 2008 and became the
Thunder.

Prospective owners of the Clippers were told to submit
their bids by yesterday and the plan is to pick a winner by June
2, according to three people with direct knowledge of the
situation. The people asked not to be identified because the
process isn’t public.

Shelly Sterling is the wife of Clippers managing partner
Donald Sterling, who was banned by the NBA for making racist
statements, and has been presiding over the sale. Bank of
America Corp. was retained to assist, people familiar with the
process said. The NBA must approve any transfer of ownership.

NBA Vote

A number of suitors have been in talks with Shelly Sterling
for the team. She wants at least $1 billion for the club that
finished with the third-best record in the league this season,
according to a person with direct knowledge of the sale process.

She must sell the team by June 3, when the league’s owners
will convene and probably vote on Commissioner Adam Silver’s
recommendation that the NBA assume control of the franchise and
sell it. Twenty-three of 30 owners must approve the forced sale.

Donald Sterling, under league bylaws, has the right to
address the owners on June 3 in New York. While his wife moves
to sell the club, he told the NBA two days ago in a letter that
he should be able to keep the team and called the league’s
proceedings against him a “sham.”

“We do not believe a court in the United States of America
will enforce the draconian penalties imposed on Mr. Sterling in
these circumstances,” read the letter, a copy of which was
obtained by Bloomberg News.

‘Lovers’ Quarrel’

Donald Sterling signed a May 22 letter, a copy of which was
obtained by Bloomberg, to the NBA in which he says he authorizes
Shelly Sterling to negotiate with the league regarding all
issues in connection with a sale of the team.

Sterling said in the letter of two days ago that his
remarks were illegally recorded during a “lovers’ quarrel”
with another woman.

Among the other bidders for the Clippers is a group that
includes music executive David Geffen, Oracle Corp. Chief
Executive Officer Larry Ellison, Oprah Winfrey and executives
from Guggenheim Partners, owners of baseball’s Los Angeles
Dodgers.

Hand-Delivered Bid

Andrew M. Gordon, of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Los Angeles
office, presented the Geffen group’s bid in person, according to
a person with direct knowledge of the process. Geffen declined
to comment in an e-mail.